CHAPTER XVII.

PREPARATIONS

Leo, who had almost no chance to speak with anyone except Lotte and his cleaning woman, had lately made the acquaintance of two men whom he considered important. One was the Deputy Wenzel Krötzl, the other the proprietor of the great department store in the Kärtnerstrasse, Herr Habietnik.

Leo had met Krötzl in the following manner: Returning home late one night from the coffee-house where he used to read his papers and magazines, he found a man lying on the bottom step, very much the worse for liquor, weeping bitterly and making vain efforts to get on his feet. Leo helped him to his apartment, which was located under his own studio, and discovered, by the way, that he had before him the honorable Deputy Wenzel Krötzl, whose avocation was that of real estate profiteer. Not only was this advertised on the door, but as he reeled forward and back Herr Krötzl persisted in proclaiming at the top of his voice:

“If any’un shayzh I’m drunk he’zh a crook an’ a Jew beshidezh! I’m a duly ’lected dep’ty an’ memmer o’ the Nash’n’l ’Shembly, an’ I got fifty houzhezh to shell w’at ushed to b’long to them Jew shwine!”

In the course of time Leo had opportunity to learn that Herr Krötzl was not only a rabid anti-Semite but also a notorious drunkard, who usually had a drop too much even at breakfast at the Parliament buffet. However, he had considerable gifts of persuasion, and was quite popular among his constituents for his homely way of putting things. He was a widower, and from time to time harbored in his home a presumable housekeeper--occasionally one that had barely passed the legal limit of fourteen years.

It was in a much more conventional manner that Leo met Herr Habietnik. M. Dufresne was accustomed to supply his wants in the line of ties and underwear in the Kärtnerstrasse department store, which in spite of its epidemic of woolen still carried the best wares; and on one such occasion he had entered into conversation with Herr Habietnik. The latter was delighted to wait personally on this Frenchman of distinction who bore himself impeccably and knew that a blue cheviot suit required a pearl-gray silk tie. There ensued an animated talk in the course of which Leo saw how deeply the intelligent merchant suffered from prevailing conditions. Thereafter the two frequently met in the store, and finally made occasional appointments to meet in the Grabencafé.

After the National Assembly had been dissolved Leo hastened to get in touch with Herr Habietnik again, and in the course of the conversation asked him for his opinion on future developments.

“Well, the Socialists are working full steam again, and will win back the votes they lost the last time. The Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans have lost their heads, and haven’t come out with their platform as yet; but of course everyone who is not a Social-Democrat will have to vote for one of the two.”

“So that the Jewish law may remain in force?”

“Maybe, if the Socialists don’t get the two-thirds majority necessary for every constitutional amendment. For I’m afraid that the Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans won’t have the courage to repeal the special legislation against the Jews. I mean--I should say I hope, for if the Jews come back they may eventually even take away the store from me.”

“Nonsense,” Leo declared energetically. “No one can take from you what you have. Perhaps they’ll buy it from you, or the former owner will content himself with a partnership with you. But the most important thing is that you’ll be able to throw out the Alpine hats and woolen skirts, and will be able to arrange your displays as you used to.”

Habietnik’s eyes shone as he replied with genuine warmth:

“Yes, indeed! That’s the most important thing! When I think that there might be life and luxury here again, as in the old days--no, that dream is too beautiful to come true.”

“Listen here, Herr Habietnik,” said Leo, laying his hand on the merchant’s arm, “you’re the man to make this dream come true. We are still weeks away from the elections. That’s long enough for the formation of a Citizens’ Party, consisting of the liberal elements, the solid merchants, scholars, lawyers, artists, and industrialists, with the frank and open motto: ‘The repeal of the special legislation against the Jews!’ Take it up today, form a committee of twelve, to include three merchants, three industrialists, three steadily employed office workers, and three men of the free academic professions. Since you have no newspaper at your disposal as yet, print ten thousand posters, organize district committees, make propaganda from street to street and from house to house, and you cannot fail to be successful. I am a stranger and therefore not as familiar with conditions as you; but this enables me to judge more objectively, and I am quite sure that a considerable section of the public will greet the new party with great enthusiasm.”

Herr Habietnik was all enthusiasm. That very evening he gathered about fifty downtown merchants, manufacturers, and lawyers, and at one o’clock in the morning there was organized a committee that had at its disposal a fund amounting to millions, pledged by the members of the group.

The new party was called “the Party of the Active Citizens of Austria,” stood on a wholly liberal-bourgeois platform, and began its work with an animated and thorough campaign of agitation. No one except Herr Habietnik knew that it was the Frenchman Dufresne who composed the leaflets and proclamations.

Their success surpassed their wildest expectations. Formerly the people had been highly suspicious of every attempt to found a democratic bourgeois party, because the Jews would always push themselves to the fore. But this time it was a purely Christian matter--the names of the leaders were sufficient guarantee that this was no conspiracy hatched by exiled Jews--and all the people who had been harmed by the Jewish law crowded the committee headquarters to join the new party. They came in swarms, the merchants, the jewelers, the assistants of the great tailors, the unemployed chauffeurs--they brought their wives, and the rush became ever greater, in spite of the hue and cry raised by the Christian-Socialist papers. The _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ kept quiet, refraining from all aggression. Its chiefs knew that while the Party of Active Citizens would doubtless take many votes from the Social-Democrats, it would, on the other hand, attract all the votes that usually remained uncast, and some of those that would have gone to the Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans. So it limited itself to an occasional polemic against some plank of the Citizens’ platform; but in doubtful districts there even were some secret combines of the two parties.

As April third, the date which had been set for the election, approached, the entire world began to show interest in the outcome. The foreign exchanges, adopting an attitude of waiting, permitted the krone to rest peacefully in the depths; in Vienna the excitement grew hourly, and gave rise to repeated excesses and malignant riots. For all the parties worked with every means at their disposal: The anti-Semites shouted of treason, and told hair-raising stories of the international conspiracy of the Jews; the Social-Democrats agitated against the peasants--who, they said, were robbing the workers of the city--and against the Christian demagogues who had only wanted to enrich themselves through the expulsions of the Jews; the new Citizens’ Party, however, continually put out enormous posters that demonstrated with figures the terrible misery prevailing in Vienna since the expulsion, and showed how the city had actually degenerated into a gigantic village, how all the spirit and enterprise had vanished from its life. Over and over again, in every key and variation, they asserted:

“The special legislation against the Jews must be repealed. But at the same time it will be the business of a wise and conscientious government to keep out those elements that did not reside in Vienna before the world war, unless they can prove before a competent court, composed of members of the middle and working classes, that they are willing and able to do useful, productive, valuable work which is essential for the common good of Austria.”

In the Chancellor’s office there were daily sessions that lasted far into the night, where consultations were held as to the best way of counteracting the new party and the re-invigorated Socialist group. Schwertfeger had had the right instinct. An enormous new loan had to be floated, the krone had to rise, so that the people would see how solidly all Christendom stood behind them--then the government would be victorious. Immediately after the dissolution of the Parliament Professor Trumm, the Minister of Finance, had hurried to Berlin, Paris, and London, to beg and to plead. In vain! The great Christian leagues abroad, the French anti-Semites, the Dutch Christians--all expressed their sympathy and friendship, inquired eagerly after the fate of the many millions they had already sacrificed to the cause, and refused to unseal their pockets again. Most disappointing of all was the reaction of the American billionaire, Mr. Huxtable, on whom they had counted with absolute certainty. He answered none of their telegrams or pleas; and ten days before the election there came a cable from the Austrian government’s confidential agent in New York, with this crushing message:

“Huxtable unapproachable. Secretly married to Jewish girl from Chicago. Intends to sell loan given Austria three years ago to Kuhn and Loeb Banking Company for quarter of value.”

Schwertfeger began to freeze into his now habitual gloom, the anti-Semitic chiefs lost their heads entirely; but Mayor Laberl did something that created a tremendous sensation. Three days before the election he resigned from the Christian-Socialist Citizens’ Club, and joined the Party of Active Citizens. And more than half of the Municipal Council followed his example.

On this day a warm wind blew away the last traces of snow from the hills about Vienna. And in the Billrothstrasse studio two young people were clasped in an ardent and yearning embrace. He whispered:

“Oh, when will you be mine?”

And she replied dreamily:

“If you could only take off that little beard--it tickles me so!”